Saturday, November 16, 2013

Guest Post: Slight Of Hand At Work Again

Slight Of Hand At
Work Again

Colonel Donald J. Myers USMC (Ret)

Magicians are famous for having your attention riveted in
one area as they prepare to surprise you in another. The Ringling Brothers
Barnum and Bailey Circus does the same as it focuses the spectators attention
to a side ring while the main ring is setting up for one of the stars. Our
military used these ploys very successfully during World War II when it
established a fake army headed by general Patton in England. The ploy was to convince
the Germans that the invasion of France
would occur at Pas de Calais and cause the
Germans to keep troops in that area and also not commit reserves in the rear
areas. The main invasion at Normandy would
have a better chance of success with a large portion of German troops waiting
for an invasion at Pas de Calais. The ruse
worked and the invasion at Normandy
was successful. It was a close thing initially and those German troops at Pas de Calais and the reserve forces that include Panzer
forces could have spelled defeat for the allies.

The United States
has been negotiating with Iran
for about ten years concerning nuclear weapons development. Those negotiations
have been warm and cold, but mostly cold. Economic sanctions have been placed
on Iran
by most of the free world and they have caused significant hardship for
the people, but the development of a nuclear bomb has not been deterred. Since
1 October 2013 most of the media attention has been on ObamaCare and its
abysmal failure in signing up for that program. Almost little else has been in
the news, but that does not mean newsworthy items have not been occurring.

The Syrian debacle has become back page stuff and President
Assad of Syria
has improved his position against the rebels. President Obama's pledge of action
if the "Red Line" of chemical weapons usage was crossed by Assad
is yesterday's news. We totally backed off when Assad promised to get rid
of his chemical weapons and our president took a deep breath of relief and
agreed. Iran is a major
supporter of Assad so it has gained more power in the Middle
East along with Assad its client. Israel
is deeply concerned with what has happened in Syria
and with Iran
continuing to develop a nuclear bomb. As all of this is happening, the United States and Iran
are negotiating some type of deal that will cause the sanctions on Iran to be temporarily reduced as an
incentive for Iran
to reduce its development of a nuclear bomb.

We have been down the same road with North Korea and
provided it with food, oil and a nuclear reactor for conventional means. It did
not work because North Korea
continued to develop its nuclear program and now has nuclear bombs. We tried
the carrot and stick approach on numerous occasions with North Vietnam and only once did it work and that
was in the Christmas bombing on Hanoi
by B52s. It was the stick and not the carrot that worked. WE also went down
that road with Sadam Hussein in Iraq
following the first Iraqi war. Will we never learn that trusting an
untrustworthy individual is stupid? Remember, Prime Minister chamberlain
returned from meeting with Hitler and touted "Peace in our time."
That didn't last long.

I fear that before the end of the year, the United States
will sign an agreement with Iran and President Obama will be hailed as a fantastic
peacemaker. I can see the headlines now, "The president has shown that he
deserved the Nobel Peace Prize with this agreement that has escaped the grasp
of so many nations." All else will be forgotten to include ObamaCare, Benghazi, IRS, NSA and all
the other minor difficulties. Be prepared, the center ring is being
organized.

*****

Donald J. Myers a retired colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps,
is a regular columnist for Hernando Today. He lives in Spring Hill and can be
contacted at dmyersusmc@aol.com.